London, Dec 13(ANI): Brit-Indian business tycoon Shrien Dewani masterminded the 'assassination' of his wife on their honeymoon in South Africa last month, a new suspect has alleged.

According to The Daily Mail, Monde Mbolombo, a receptionist at Cape Town's Protea Hotel Colosseum, claims that he had helped hire two gunmen to kill Anni Dewani in a staged carjacking near Cape Town at the request of her husband.

Taxi driver Zola Tongo, who was jailed for 18 years for involvement in the murder, had named Mbolombo in his plea and sentence agreement as the middleman.

Tongo had said that he asked Mbolombo to help find the gunmen because he knew people in the criminal underworld.

The hotel worker reportedly demanded 450 pounds for organizing the murder, and said that the alleged gunmen should be paid 1,000 pounds.

Mbolombo will be a key state witness after South African officials offered him a deal by which he would escape prosecution in return for 'truthful testimony'.

He is also suspected of linking Shrien to a previous 'execution style' murder in South Africa three years ago.

Shrien and Anni were two weeks into their Cape Town honeymoon when the taxi they were in was hijacked in the Khayelitsha township by two men armed with guns on November 13.

The 28-year-old Anni was shot dead by the robbers, but Shrien was released unharmed.

Shrien was arrested and later released on bail in the UK on suspicion of conspiring to have his wife killed. (ANI)